'BAKULA TO HIT SHOWTIME 'STREAK' by Eric J.Olson
From Daily Variety, 11/5, page 34
Scott Bakula, best known for his five years on NBC's "Quantum Leap," is set to star in "Mean Streak," a Showtime original movie in conjunction with Paramount Network TV. Bakula's company, Bakula Prods., has a first-look deal with Par.
In the telefilm, Bakula portrays a N.Y. City cop who teams with an
African-American FBI agent to track down a racist on a killing spree
angered over the prospect of a black baseball player about to break
Joe DiMaggio's hitting-streak record.
The made-for, slated to air next spring, is written by Dave Ryan
and revised by John Fasano. Tim Hunter directs and Phyllis Carlyle
exec produces. Productions starts Nov.18 in Toronto.
Next up for Bakula is the ABC miniseries "Tom Clancy's Net Force."
The actor recently completed "Luminarias," an indie film adapted from the play of the same name.
Bakula's deal was brokered by ICM's Brian Mann.
thanks to Gina on the AOL boards
Mean Streak Review--YAY!!
Stand back guys, this is something we've all been waiting for -- a very good review! Seems the reviewers actually managed to find in the film the same things that Scott told interviewers about it (for a change!). I guess someome managed to make all their points. :-) All through reading this, my smile just kept getting bigger.
Okay, I really had to editorialize for a change--onwards to the review. (with many thanks to Margaret in NO)
"Mean Streak'' surprises as taut thriller
Mean Streak (Telefilm thriller,
Showtime, Sun. (27), 9 p.m., 1:35)
By Ray Richmond
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Finally, the NYPD catches a break. Too bad it's only in a movie. In the downbeat but compelling Showtime original film ``Mean Streak,'' an admittedly racist detective proves an unlikely hero, saving the life of a black ballplayer who is flirting with Joe DiMaggio's magical 56-game hitting streak -- while being stalked by your garden-variety deranged lunatic.
It's difficult to decide which idea is the most startling:
that ``Quantum Leap'' alum Scott Bakula could convincingly play
a cynical, complex, ``dese and dose'' Bronx cop or that someone
would actually approach DiMaggio's untouchable record (even in a
film).
The other surprise is that ``Mean Streak'' should turn out
to be such a taut little thriller, as well as the most
idiosyncratic race relations-themed flick in memory.
Colorful teleplay from scribes David F. Ryan and John Fasano
successfully paints a shatteringly bleak picture before building
to the obligatory warm 'n' fuzzy denouement.
Yet the film takes so many offbeat side trips before
reaching its destination that you feel fulfilled for having
taken the ride.
Bakula is pretty terrific in playing detective Lou Mattoni,
a battle-scarred, disdainful sort who hasn't been the same since
his wife left him and his partner died in the line of duty a few
years back.
He is less than thrilled to hear that his captain (Beau
Starr) plans to pair him with a suave, no-nonsense black FBI
agent named Altman Rogers (polished work from Leon) to track a
serial killer.
Seems that young black males are being murdered at a
disturbing rate in the Bronx, and the killer leaves a
particularly grisly calling card: He hacks off the thumbs of his
victims and mails them to Cash Manley (Howard Dell), the guy who
is on the verge of busting DiMaggio's hitting streak.
It's meant as a warning to Manley that if he follows through
in attempting to break the record of a white icon, he will die
before reaching this lofty goal.
Mattoni and Rogers form the uneasiest of alliances. But
Rogers can't be blamed. When Mattoni is in the vicinity of a
suspect, he begins to uncontrollably pummel the living crud out
of the guy.
Yes, he's a loose cannon and a racist pig, but he's also ...
a misunderstood softy who is tight with his crusty, peg-legged
dad (Ron McLarty) and loving toward his adorable Puerto Rican
girlfriend Julia (Bridgid Coulter).
Bakula displays a cool, relaxed chemistry with Leon and
Coulter, boosted by Tim Hunter's crisp direction that affords
the players room to roam in their characterizations. In tandem
with the script, the elements converge to turn ``Mean Streak''
into a modest gem that makes up in style and spirit what it
might lack in substance.
It surely catches us off guard to find that this little
Scott Bakula flick on Showtime makes several salient points
about societal bigotry and the prejudice that can rear its ugly
head even in those who consider themselves colorblind.
Indeed, we don't expect lessons in race relations on Sunday
night over premium cable, yet this telepic manages to impart
them in a uniquely eccentric way. Tech credits are swell.
Mean Streak Pix
The pictures to go with the article below, have been posted at the PQL site Mean Streak Page, by Donna
thanks Donna!
Mean Steak, More Scott commentary
From the TV section of today's New York Daily News with a small color photo of Scott from Mean Streak (his hair is quite short but YES, there's most definitely a beard!!), the following brief article...
thanks for article (and description of Scott, above :-)) to Helene as posted on the QLIP board
REFLECTING ON RACE RELATIONS
"I've maintained for years that the core issue in the world is prejudice," says Scott Bakula (who plays a New York City detective forced to confront his own racial issues in Showtime's "Mean Streak" June 27. "Prejudice comes in all forms. It's not just about race. It could be about age, sex, nationality and religion." In the telepic, Africa-Americans are being killed because a black ballplayer is about to break Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak. "My character is a man who thinks that he doesn't have any racial issues -- I think, unfortunately, that's more or less reality in this country. We don't say words we're not supposed to say -- but it doesn't matter if you still feel the same way. If people don't attempt to change themselves, things will never change."
Mean Streak News and Commentary from Scott
Marilyn Beck/Stacy Jenell Smith
"Hollywood" column in
The New York Daily News
April 9, 1999
"Bakula's 'Mean Streak' tackles racism"
Scott Bakula plays against type in Showtime's "Mean Streak," airing June 27. "It's a suspense thriller on the surface, but it's really about prejudice and various forms of racism and hate crimes," says the former "Quantum Leap" star. "I play a New York City detective who comes to face some of his own racial issues. That's what made me want to do it.
"TV audiences are used to seeing me play the kind of [heroic] characters I've done in the past," he added. "I thought maybe this kind of story would have more impact if we see someone like me moving through life thinking he's not racist until a mirror gets held up in front of his face. It's a very gripping story."
In the telepic, which also stars Leon, "some bad guys are killing blacks because a black ballplayer is about to break Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak." Tragically, its just like a page out of history -- Hank Aaron was the object of death threats 25 years ago when he was overtaking Babe Ruth's record.
thanks to Karen
Mean Streak Tidbit
Here is a tiny commentary on Mean Streak and one little picture of Scott from the CIBA
Thanks to Joe Smith who comments that Scott isn't that good at baseball (I won't use the word he did : ) )
Mean Streak news story
SkyDome poses as Yankee Stadium for movie
By JIM SLOTEK -- Toronto Sun
With the wolf at the door and the locked-out Raptors hitting the bricks, the SkyDome will take whatever business it can get -- even if that means tarting itself up to look like Yankee Stadium.
The Dome's been playing host to crews from the U.S. cable flick Mean Streak, a cop/psychodrama in which "someone is killing African-American men and children and sending their thumbs to a baseball player who's in the middle of breaking a major league record streak."
Scott Bakula plays the cop on the trail of the serial killer, and Canadian-born ex-Argo slotback Howard Dell is the ballplayer. The production has done several days of shooting in the Dome (with hundreds of extras, shot to look like thousands) and plans to return to it in mid-December.
We think you'd have to be blind to confuse SkyDome and the House That Ruth Built, but this is the second time its interiors have represented Yankee Stadium's. The first was for Torre, the bioflick with Paul Sorvino as extant Yankee manager Joe.
June 29
Mean Streak Review--with Music Man Comment from Scott
I reprint this review here mainly due to Scott's comment about MM. He doesn't say much, but at least we are aware that he is aware. (Of course, having your name in Variety, I suppose it would be odd to be unaware, but it's nice to hear him mention it anyway. :-))
BTW, here is the article --thanks to Margaret in N.O.
from (The wonderful) Benjamin Morrison in N.O.
"Bakula is certainly an asset here. And this is quite offbeat in comparison to his 'Quantum Leap' persona. 'Leap' was and is an international success, which remains in almost continous view on cable since its network run ended in 1993. 'In reality,' says the actor, 'I'm still on television.
And in some ways that's hurt me in terms of people being able to discover me in a new light.'
"Nowadays he's mixing most of his time between TV movies and features. (His wonderful CBS series 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' came and went much too quickly.)
Recently, he and lady love Chelsea Field appeared together on stage in Los Angeles in A.R. Gurney's drama 'Love Letters.' And some fans will know he has solid musical roots (including a Tony nomination) on the New York stage.
"Why isn't this man on Broadway?
"'Well,' he says quietly, 'I think it's already been in a column that I'm a frontrunner for (a revival of) 'The Music Man.' [editors note: unfortunately, the role went to Craig Bierko]
"We suspect audiences will leap at a chance to see it."